RC schools needed `more than ever’
Roman Catholic schools may be the last safeguard in Scotland for Christian society against disruptive forces, already operating in schools, which would substitute moral or religious education, says a booklet by the Rev Brother Kenneth, FMS, former head at St Mungo’s Academy, Glasgow. The rapid growth in the Catholic population in the past 30 years is reflected in January 1971 statistics which show, compared with 226 schools transferred in 1918, 345 primary and 85 Catholic secondaries.
Highland IQs are misleading
Highland and Island children present special problems to the educational psychologist, Miss Helen Alexander, Inverness-shire’s county psychologist, told the Glasgow Education Society discussion group. Standard intelligence tests could give misleading results when they depended on concepts and languages which might not be familiar to children brought up in Gaelic- speaking areas. Their teachers were delighted to have an outside contact which broke through their isolation.
No action against teacher
The GTC disciplinary committee took no action against Mr John Edmond, a former principal teacher in Northfield Academy, Aberdeen, fined pound;15 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for an act of indecency with a 69-year-old man. Mr Edmond’s homosexual tendencies, said Mr John Cameron, advocate, had never taken the form of attraction to young persons.
Disadvantaged children
If society wanted to break the vicious circle of bad parents raising children badly to become bad parents in their turn, intervention must start early, said Dr ML Kellmer Pringle, director of the National Children’s Bureau, in Edinburgh last week. There must be a change of priorities in education: more must be given at pre-school and primary level.
Universities take over teacher training
Finland is the first Scandinavian country to entrust its entire teacher training to universities. The main aim is to get a more uniform body of teachers. The academic course will normally last for up to four years, followed by a lengthy spell of teaching practice.
